La Joconde
(Mona Lisa)
Follow us on: #monalisamovie | monalisa-movie.com
Feature
In French / Italian / German / Russian / English Locations: FRANCE, ITALY, GERMANY
A Franco-Italian co-production, Serein Productions, LLC in association with MediaFusion Entertainment (USA) and Bella Productions (USA)
​​
Production Status: In Development
​​
Genre: Comedy Heist
​
Tagline: "Everybody wants a Mona Lisa!"
​
Logline: How many Mona Lisa did Leonardo paint? The answers give rise to intrigue, murder, greed, double-cross, mystery, and romance in this fast-paced comedy heist movie.
​​
Writers: Carol Bidault de l'Isle (France) and James Farwell (USA)
​
Writer & Producer: Carol Bidault de l'Isle (France)
​
Executive Producers: James Farwell, Chandu Shah, Jerry Daigle, Frank Hart
​
Countries of production: FRANCE, ITALY, GERMANY
​
Duration (in minutes): 90
​
FINANCING IN PLACE: 75% (Co-production funds, Tax incentives) Seeking 25%
​
SYNOPSIS:
In St. Petersburg, IGOR STRASKOFF, a Russian Oligarch attends a glittering reception hosted by Russian President YURI TITOV in the Hermitage Museum’s Leonardo Room. Titov is affronted upon discovering that their Mona Lisa is a copy. He finds out that there is a painting potentially painted by Da Vinci himself up for auction and presses Igor to acquire it for Mother Russia.
​
In the meantime, the art world is abuzz with the upcoming Dallier auction of this painting of the Mona Lisa. Can it be an authentic Leonardo?
Commissioner NICOLE FORTIER, in charge of Antiquities, whose mission is to combat art fraud and theft, meets the elderly MS. GOLDSTEIN who is convinced that the Mona Lisa up for auction is hers, stolen by the Nazis from her family in the 1940’s and she has proof.
Nicole visits Dallier Auction House and confronts the director, MARIE DE NOYER and her eccentric and infamous Italian art consultant, GIANCARLO RICCI, and demands that Dallier delay the auction while experts determine whether the Goldstein and Dallier Mona Lisas are the same. Marie pushes back, and Giancarlo, declines to offer a public opinion.
The auction proceeds. HANS DIETER, a wealthy German nouveau-riche expatriate, Igor, SOPHIA MAGGIONI - Italian royalty and art collector, QI and YING WEI - art dealers, and other top art collectors bid furiously against one another. Dieter wins. Having lost at bidding, Igor’s goons steal the painting. Dieter lodges a formal complaint to Nicole and the police, accusing Igor.
Police search Igor’s mansion, but find no evidence of the stolen painting. Igor awakens the next morning to discover that the Dallier Mona Lisa has been burgled from him. He sets his team in motion to locate and obtain legally or illegally, the Dallier Mona Lisa, or any Mona Lisa for that matter.
​
Nicole and Giancarlo pursue different agendas. She cares not whether the Goldstein painting is an authentic Leonardo, she goal is to determine whether the Dallier Mona Lisa is the one stolen from the Goldstein family. Giancarlo’s interest is in whether the painting can be attributed to da Vinci. Nicole wants him to stay out of her way as she embarks on a tense investigation to track down the painting. Giancarlo pursues his own sources. Their paths crisscross, heightening tension between them, yet flowering a bond between them.
​
Top art collectors Sophia Maggioni, an Italian Sophia Maggioni - Italian royalty and art collector, QI and YING WEI - successful Chinese are collectors and dealers are very interested parties to the antics of both the French and Italian officials that are investigating their involvement in the heist and all the while seeking their help.
​
Igor knows he cannot fail Titov. His future, fortune and his daughter are at stake. He tries to balance aggression with restraint to head off getting kicked out of France. It’s tough sledding. His musclemen thrive on ill-conceived action, while his own expert, KARP, dances around questions as to the authenticity of the Dallier Mona Lisa.
​
Inspired by fact, MONA LISA moves swiftly from the toney arrondissements of Paris to a billionaire’s hi-tech Lake Como villa to a mysterious castle in Sicily, we discover exciting mysteries revolving around the enigmatic Mona Lisa, with non-stop action, romance and delight of unpredictable surprises.